Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 15, 10:00 AM ET

AQST max pain

Spot (delayed)$4.62
Max pain · Fri, Nov 20$5+8.2% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$1.38±29.8% by Fri, Nov 20
Put/Call OI0.9220K puts / 22K calls
Call wall$6largest call OI
Put wall$2largest put OI
IV3099.8%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$16Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $2

Event risk before this expiration: FOMC decision Wed, Oct 28 · Jobs report Fri, Nov 6 · CPI release Tue, Nov 10 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Oct 16$5+8.2%1d
Fri, Nov 20$5+8.2%36d
Fri, Feb 19$5+8.2%127d
Fri, May 21$3-35.1%218d
Fri, Jan 21$3-35.1%463d
Fri, Jan 19$2-56.7%827d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot51356810$8M$0
■ put-side pain■ call-side painTotal payout option writers would owe at each settle price (both sides, all open interest, ×100 shares) — low settles hurt put writers, high settles hurt call writers. The minimum — 5 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot51357107K7K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)AQST open contracts per strike for Fri, Nov 20.

Open-interest change — building vs unwinding

Needs two observed snapshot days for this expiration — the comparison appears automatically once the next weekday snapshot lands. We diff real observations only; nothing is estimated.

Volume by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot5135710142142
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spot1356810393%87%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 102.0% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Nov 20

spotflip 2135710+$33K−$33K
Net dealer gamma per strike, in dollars per 1% move, assuming the standard convention (dealers long calls, short puts) — an assumption, not an observation. Above the amber flip level hedging tends to dampen moves; below it, to amplify them.

Greeks by strike · Fri, Nov 20

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.99-0.0010.01020.00-0.00-0.02
0.97-0.0020.03170.00-0.00-0.04
0.91-0.0030.09350.00-0.00-0.09
0.74-0.0140.22270.01-0.01-0.27
0.48-0.0150.26530.01-0.01-0.53
0.29-0.0160.21320.01-0.01-0.72
0.18-0.0170.15430.00-0.01-0.83
0.12-0.0180.10910.00-0.00-0.90
0.05-0.00100.05480.00-0.00-0.97

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot13571015K0
Call open interest per strike, stacked across the checked expirations — each color is one expiry. Strikes are pruned to the liquid center of each chain.

All expirations combined — total open interest

spot1357915K15K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 44K call contracts, 27K put contracts open.

Reading this honestly

Max pain is arithmetic, not prophecy: the settle price that would minimize what option writers pay out at expiration, computed from open interest alone. Prices sometimes gravitate toward heavy strikes into expiry — dealer hedging is a real flow — but the evidence that max pain predicts settlement better than chance is mixed, and we are not going to pretend otherwise. Use it as a map of where positioning is stacked, next to the fundamentals and the earnings calendar, not as a target.

Data: Cboe delayed public feed (~15 minutes), refreshed here about every 15 minutes. Open interest itself updates once daily, before the open. Educational information, not investment advice.

Keep going: AQST workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk